Woman with same company 50 years

Published: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 at 02:34 PM.

Fred Gallagher puts it this way: “Fifty years of doing whatever job was in front of you to do.”

Doris McFee, one of the few Good Will Publishers employees whose 60-year tenure can trump Murphy’s, remembers the two of them working on the first computers to ever enter the office.

And she remembers the year and a half workers spent manually entering shipping and billing information into a later version of computerized equipment. That was more than a year of working every Friday and every Saturday.

“I don’t think Mary Lou missed an hour,” McFee says.

A lot has changed from the days when Murphy went to work in the collections department, when she opened envelopes containing a dollar or two and kept up with the printed invoices.

When a staff of 40 people hand-inscribed sponsor names on the company’s books.

When a gallon of gas was 25 cents and that “Love Me Do” single on 45 rpm went for $1.

When Mary Lou Murphy went to work at Good Will Publishers Inc., a manual typewriter was the most technology had to offer a small business office.

Three months out of Holbrook High School, class of 1962, she started in the collections department.

That was the same year The Beatles recorded “Love Me Do” and ABC became the first network to begin broadcasting in color, pointed out Good Will Publishers President Jay Briody.

“Software was not a word,” added CEO Robert Gallagher. “Hardware was a store. … Programs you got at church or the theater.”

Murphy’s efforts earned her $1.75 an hour, said Fred Gallagher.

On the sly, Murphy will tell you she remembers it being closer to $1.10.

The pay wasn’t necessarily what kept her in the job for the last 50 years.

Her coworkers at Good Will Publishers, a publisher of religious and inspirational books, are like family, she says.

They supported her when her father and her husband died on the same day.

They supported her when a broken ankle — likely caused by standing for hours on hot asphalt for a church yard sale — left her out of work for weeks.

Robert and Fred Gallagher, whose father and grandfather founded the company in 1938, were so set on making it to the anniversary party Monday that they flew back from Ireland and raised a stink in a Toronto airport to secure a flight home in time.

Murphy’s coworkers and supervisors have glowing praise for the long-time employee.

Lee DuBois, director of sales support and operations, calls her a role model. She’s probably seen it all, he says, and doesn’t rest on her laurels. Murphy is always on time and always willing to stay late, regardless of the task, according to her supervisor.

Fred Gallagher puts it this way: “Fifty years of doing whatever job was in front of you to do.”

Doris McFee, one of the few Good Will Publishers employees whose 60-year tenure can trump Murphy’s, remembers the two of them working on the first computers to ever enter the office.

And she remembers the year and a half workers spent manually entering shipping and billing information into a later version of computerized equipment. That was more than a year of working every Friday and every Saturday.

“I don’t think Mary Lou missed an hour,” McFee says.

A lot has changed from the days when Murphy went to work in the collections department, when she opened envelopes containing a dollar or two and kept up with the printed invoices.

When a staff of 40 people hand-inscribed sponsor names on the company’s books.

When a gallon of gas was 25 cents and that “Love Me Do” single on 45 rpm went for $1.